Recognition of the Minority Leader (Cong. Rec., March 5, 2021)

Summary

Page S1218 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for March 5, 2021, under the heading Recognition of the Minority Leader, in interleaved columns. One speaker says the American Rescue Plan will be one of the largest anti-poverty bills in recent history, cutting child poverty nearly in half, and that a clear majority of Democrats, independents and Republicans support it, adding that the Senate will move through a lengthy amendment process, which is that speaker's view. Another speaker says he intends to offer an amendment raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour, while a third calls the bill a poorly targeted rush job, noting Republicans who went to the White House were told take it or leave it.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Cite this document

“Recognition of the Minority Leader (Cong. Rec., March 5, 2021).” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-03-05-crec-2021-03-05-pt1-pgs1218-2-3ac2eb0843/, SHA-256 447da4bcbe0a09c7f2e448481a07175ee95a4f958e7bd558b4a63a008624080f.

Full text

S1218 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 5, 2021
are still struggling with basic neces- tion and testing, that it needs to crush urgent action is called for. The Senate
sities. Folks are thousands of dollars the virus once and for all. will move forward today with the
behind on the rent and utilities. Their All told, the American Rescue Plan American Rescue Plan. There will be a
heat, water and power are getting shut will be one of the largest anti-poverty lengthy amendment process, as the
off. More than a million Americans on bills in recent history, cutting child rules of the Senate require. The Senate
unemployment insurance report that poverty just about in half. The entire is going to take a lot of votes, but we
their kids aren’t getting enough to eat. country has gotten behind the bill: are going to power through and finish
Sometimes the macrostatistics get in business leaders, mayors, Governors, this bill however long it takes. The
the way because the top end is doing from big cities, small towns, Red American people are counting on us,
very well, the top 10 percent or 25 per- States, Blue States, Democrat, Repub- and our Nation depends on it.
cent, but so many other people are lican. I yield the floor.
struggling. And if you just look at a The clear majority of the American I suggest the absence of a quorum.
big number, you say: Oh, everything is people—Democrats, Independents, and The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
getting a little better. It is not for the Republicans—all support the American clerk will call the roll.
lower half of America. It is not. Rescue Plan. It seems the only group The bill clerk proceeded to call the
I read about one of my constituents in America who doesn’t support the roll.
recently, Allilsa Fernandez, from American Rescue Plan are Washington Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President,
Queens, who had a job as a home Republicans. I ask unanimous consent that the order
healthcare aide lined up at the start of My colleagues on the other side of for the quorum call be rescinded.
the pandemic but couldn’t take it be- the aisle say $1.9 trillion is too expen- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
cause of her family’s preexisting med- sive. Well, my Republican colleagues pore. Without objection, it is so or-
ical conditions. Her mother was in the didn’t think it was too expensive when dered.
hospital with COVID. Her income went they gave nearly the same amount in f
from $3,400 a month to just $1,000. tax breaks to corporations and the
It was a huge, huge loss— ultrarich in a healthy economy, not RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY
one that is struggling. LEADER
She said.
I have medications, my electric bill, the My colleagues claim this bill isn’t re- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
phone bill, and [the] other costs. Every day lated to COVID. What hogwash. It is a pore. The Republican leader is recog-
you . . . have to make . . . decisions: Am I strange thing to say because most of nized.
going to eat? the measures in the bill are exactly the f
In America, that should not be the same ideas Republicans supported a
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF
case. It shouldn’t be at any time but year ago in the CARES Act, which
2021
particularly when an evil disease has passed without a single dissenting Re-
robbed our hard-working people of publican vote. Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President,
their income, their livelihood. Direct checks, in the CARES Act; en- today or tonight or tomorrow, Demo-
‘‘Am I going to eat?’’ And we are sup- hanced unemployment insurance, in crats say they will break the bipar-
posed to sit here and do nothing? We the CARES Act; assistance for State tisan streak that has defined the pan-
are supposed to say to Ms. Fernandez, and local governments, in the CARES demic response up until now. They are
and so many like her, we are not giving Act; funding for testing and the vac- dead set on ramming through an ideo-
you the help you need? cine, in the CARES Act; aid to schools logical spending spree packed with
Ms. Fernandez hasn’t been able to and small businesses, in the CARES non-COVID-related policies.
pay the rent since April of last year, Act. All of them were in the CARES This is just what a leading House
over $16,000 worth. And this bill will Act, which every Republican voted for, Democrat admitted they would do back
help people like her, but it will also and now they are saying the American at the start of the crisis: Exploit the
prevent people from getting into Ms. Rescue Plan, which has the basic, same pandemic as ‘‘a tremendous oppor-
Fernandez’s place: people who work for structure, is not related to COVID. tunity to restructure things to fit our
State and local governments who When we passed the CARES Act, we vision.’’ To give them credit, they
might be laid off, people who work for all thought that maybe COVID would never hid the ball. That is how you get
small businesses who might be laid off. be gone by the summer. It isn’t. We a 628-page bill that costs nearly $2 tril-
It is the job of this government, dur- need to keep at it in the same way. lion, but only 9 percent addresses the
ing this evil pandemic, to assist Amer- Every single Republican who voted for fight against the virus itself and only 1
ican families, businesses, and workers the CARES Act and those ideas a year percent—1 percent—for the lifesaving
like Ms. Fernandez until this pandemic ago, when a Republican was in the vaccines that are ending this night-
is over. It is also our job to prevent White House and Republicans con- mare as we speak.
others from falling into the same awful trolled the Senate, is now saying no, it That is how you craft a bill that does
situation that Ms. Fernandez finds her- seems. But now that a Democrat is in nothing to immediately get kids back
self. It is our job to hasten the day the White House, now that Democrats to classrooms. In fact, that spends only
when Americans can go back to work, control the Senate, those same ideas, 5 percent of the K–12 school money this
our country can go back to normal, our which they supported when Trump was fiscal year.
economy can come roaring back. We President and MCCONNELL was major- This isn’t a pandemic rescue pack-
can reduce that awfully high actual 10 ity leader, are a liberal wish list—same age; it is a parade of leftwing pet
percent unemployment. That is what ideas. Who the heck are they kidding? projects they are ramming through
the American Rescue Plan will do. They have no good answer. during a pandemic.
It will send direct checks to Amer- But let’s face it, we need to get this There is a costly ObamaCare bailout
ican workers and families struggling done. It would be so much better if we that will disproportionately benefit
with the cost of groceries, medicine, could in a bipartisan way, but we need wealthier people; payments to farmers
and the rent. The vast majority of to get it done. and ranchers based solely on the demo-
Americans will get the full $1,400 we We are not going to make the same graphics of the recipient without any
have asked for. It will help reopen mistake we made after the last eco- regard to actual need; and a massive
schools as quickly and safely as pos- nomic downturn when Congress did too cash bailout for mismanaged State and
sible. It will help the hardest hit small little to help the Nation rebound, lock- local governments, multiple times the
businesses hang on. It will keep fire- ing us into a long, slow, painful recov- size of COVID needs.

ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
fighters and teachers and busdrivers ery, where it was years before employ- Instead of pushing back on the anti-
and sanitation workers on the job. It ment was back to where it was before science bullying from Big Labor that is
will help American families stay in that crisis. locking kids out of the classrooms,
their homes, care for their children, We are not, we are not going to be they buy into it.
put food on the table, and it will give timid in the face of big challenges. We They want to create generous new
our country the resources, the vaccina- are not, we are not going to delay when benefits for parents who are dealing

VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:22 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G05MR6.002 S05MRPT1
CORRECTION
March 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1219
with school closures but only if they one set of political spin. The White The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
are Federal employees. To all the par- House Chief of Staff is going around pore. The Senator from Vermont.
ents without government jobs, no such town admitting that they have written
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENTS
luck. ‘‘the most progressive domestic legisla-
There are provisions to let abortion tion in a generation.’’ That is the Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I
providers raid the small business res- White House Chief of Staff. Meanwhile, ask unanimous consent that for the du-
cue funds that were meant for Main here in the Senate, Democrats are still ration of the Senate’s consideration of
Street businesses. pretending this is some down-the-mid- H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan
They want to pay people a bonus not dle proposal and lecturing us for not Act of 2021, the majority and Repub-
to go back to work when we are trying supporting it. They can’t even get their lican managers of the bill, while seated
to rebuild our economy. stories straight. or standing at the managers’ desks, be
There is an effort to create a The administration campaigned on permitted to deliver floor remarks, re-
brandnew, sprawling cash welfare pro- ushering in a new day of unity and bi- trieve, review, and edit documents, and
gram—not the one-time checks but partisanship, but in 2020, under Repub- send email and other data communica-
constant payments—that ignores the lican leadership, the Senate negotiated tions from text displayed on wireless
pro-work lessons of bipartisan welfare five rescue bills totaling $4 trillion, personal digital assistant devices and
reform and which the White House has and none of them got fewer than 90 tablet devices.
already stated they want to make per- votes. That is how this Senate was run What do we think about that?
manent. last year in a time of divided govern-
The unrelated liberal policies are ment, and now, in this supposed new All right. I further ask unanimous
simply endless. It is like they have for- era of healing leadership, we are about consent that the use of calculators be
gotten we have a pandemic to fight. to watch one party ram through a par- permitted on the floor during consider-
Larry Summers, a top economist in tisan package on the thinnest margins. ation of the bill; further, that the staff
both the Clinton and Obama adminis- Go figure. be permitted to make technical and
trations, says this plan piles way more Republicans have many ideas to im- conforming changes to the bill, if nec-
debt on our kids and grandkids than we prove the bill, many ideas, and we are essary, consistent with the amend-
need to spend right now. That is Larry about to vote on all kinds of amend- ments adopted during Senate consider-
Summers, Bill Clinton’s Secretary ments in the hopes that some of these ation of the bill.
Treasury. Jason Furman, who chaired ideas make it into the final product. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
President Obama’s Council of Eco- We are going to try to improve the bill. pore. Without objection, it is so or-
nomic Advisers, said the State and The millions who elected 50 Republican dered.
local bailouts are ‘‘overkill.’’ These are Senators will have their voices heard
AMENDMENT NO. 972 TO AMENDMENT NO. 891
liberal economists, Madam President. loud and clear.
By one analysis, the Democrats’ Our country is already set for a roar- (Purpose: To provide for increases in the
extra cash bonuses for laid-off workers ing recovery. We are already on track Federal minimum wage)
who stay home will result in almost 60 to bounce back from this crisis. That is Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I
percent of workers earning more not because of this bill; it is because of call up my amendment No. 972.
money staying home than they would our work last year. This is a trend this
earn from returning to work—more new Democratic government inherited. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
money by staying home than they We are going to come roaring back and pore. The clerk will report.
would earn from returning to work. mostly not because of this bill—in fact, The bill clerk read as follows:
What a great idea. This isn’t State un- in some ways, in spite of this bill. It
employment insurance; it is borrowing The Senator from Vermont [Mr. SANDERS],
will be because of the bipartisan foun-
for himself and others, proposes an amend-
from our kids and grandkids to pay yet dation we laid last year and the ment numbered 972 to amendment No. 891.
an additional cash bonus for not work- strength and resilience of our people.
ing. Democrats inherited a tide that was al- Mr. SANDERS. I ask unanimous con-
This would extend deep into 2021, ready turning. sent that the reading of the amend-
when we anticipate serious job growth. We could have worked together to do ment be dispensed with.
Just this morning, we had a jobs report something smart to finish this fight as The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
that shattered expectations, nearly fast as possible. Democrats decided to pore. Is there objection?
doubling the job growth experts had ex- do something else.
pected to see. Without objection, it is so ordered.
f
This is what the Washington Post (The amendment is printed in the
says about this mess. This is the Wash- CONCLUSION OF MORNING RECORD of March 4, 2021 under ‘‘Text of
ington Post about this mess that is be- BUSINESS Amendments.’’)
fore us: The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I
For policy experts and even members of pore. rise to offer an amendment to increase
Biden’s own party, the improving picture is
Morning business is closed. the Federal minimum wage from a
raising questions about whether the stim-
ulus bill is mismatched to the needs of the f starvation wage of $7.25 an hour to $15
current moment. an hour over a 5-year period.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
That is from the Washington Post As I think you know, Congress has
editorial. not raised the minimum wage since
It is mismatched all right because it AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2007. The result of that is that half of
was never designed to meet Americans’ 2021 our people are now living paycheck to
needs. The goal was to ‘‘restructure paycheck, and many, in fact, are work-
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-

ejoyner on DSKJLYS7X2PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE
things to fit’’ their ‘‘vision.’’ That is ing for wages that are much too low in
why there was no bipartisan process pore. Under the previous order, the order to take care of their families. So,
after a year of completely bipartisan Senate will resume consideration of to my mind, the American people in
COVID bills that we worked on to- H.R. 1319, which the clerk will report. poll after poll and State after State un-
gether. That is why the Senate Repub- The bill clerk read as follows: derstand that we have to raise that
licans who went to the White House to A bill (H.R. 1319) to provide for reconcili- minimum wage to a living wage of 15
propose working together were told: No ation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 5. bucks an hour. I intend to do every-
thanks; take it or leave it. Pending: thing that I can to make that happen,
This is such a poorly targeted rush Schumer amendment No. 891, of a per- and I will be offering that amendment
job that Democrats can’t even settle on fecting nature. this morning.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:42 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD21\MARCH\S05MR1.REC S05MR1

File and source

File: CREC_crec-2021-03-05_crec-2021-03-05-pt1-pgs1218-2.pdf
Size: 258,170 bytes
SHA-256: 447da4bcbe0a09c7f2e448481a07175ee95a4f958e7bd558b4a63a008624080f
Our copy: CREC_crec-2021-03-05_crec-2021-03-05-pt1-pgs1218-2.pdf
Original: www.govinfo.gov